West Ham Win Despite Uncomfortable Game Script; Player Ratings

West Ham topped West Brom and boring Sam Allardyce despite the uncomfortable game script going against everything the Hammers are used to. The player ratings show a varied response to this uncomfortable match.

Uncomfortable for two reasons: David Moyes’ defensively strong team conceded a goal, and the Hammers had a ton of possession. Both situations are far from normal for West Ham, but perseverance and relentlessness paid off and all three points followed. Here are the player ratings.

Lukasz Fabianski – 8/10: The Polish keeper was beaten after over seven hours of clean sheet play split between him and Darren Randolph. The shot was well placed and had the obstruction of an offside player as well. His distribution was solid today but his hands were exceptional.

Vladimir Coufal – 9/10: A well earned assist off of a one-touch cross from Coufal hit Jarrod Bowen in the chest and went in just before half-time boosted the fullbacks rankings, but he was very solid in this match factoring out the contribution as well.

Craig Dawson – 5/10: Far and away the worst rating for Dawson in a West Ham kit thus far. He backed off way too far on Matheus Pereira’s shot and failed to block the right path of the ball after giving him time to shoot instead of keeping the West Ham high line. Not good enough in this one.

Angelo Ogbonna – 7/10: The near-unanimous Hammer of the Year was very good in this match, especially covering wide for Aaron Cresswell out left. His headed clearances were top-notch as usual, but he also excelled at cutting out the aerial over-the-top balls that tried splitting the CBs.

Aaron Cresswell – 6/10: Off his best early, Cresswell grew into this match and instigated the winning goal by being committed forward on a spell of big possession and found Andriy Yarmolenko who headed across goal to Michail Antonio. Strong second half pulls Cress up.

Declan Rice – 7/10: Not the best performance from the skipper, but Rice flashed brilliance in this one, especially going forward. Delete the image of him blasting a free shot to row M, Rice was asked to do more in attack in this match and he did just that.

Tomas Soucek: 7/10: It’s official, Soucek is excelling in the air so he’s getting the Andy Carroll treatment. Not only was Soucek dominant in the air but unfairly picked on by the sub-par referee, Soucek also won a clear penalty that wasn’t even checked. The Czech was as solid as usual, but the Premier League has brutal referees.

Jarrod Bowen – 9/10: The star man is back! A wonderfully taken goal off the laser beam cross from Coufal is the crowning jewel on a great game where Bowen was asked to play right-wing, left-wing, and striker. Unreal performance with the end product we’ve been missing.

No choice but to chest it in, Jarrod Bowen’s goal ends a six-match cold streak for the West Ham winger

Manuel Lanzini – 2/10: There is real consideration towards a zero for Lanzini but he did get one of the only chances on target in the first half and unluckily had a sure goal blocked in a desperation move. He was passing was poor, his movement off the ball was non-existent, and his ball retention was bad. Bad, bad, bad showing.

Said Benrahma – 5/10: Benrahma could be argued higher and lower than a 5/10 but he lands in the middle here because he continued his runs, took shots from range, and eventually did send a wonderful cross to start the first goal. His time will come, just not yet apparently.

Michail Antonio – 9/10: Without a goal, Antonio put in a really strong performance at less-than-100% fitness. He bullied midfielders and had an epic battle with strong centre-back Semi Ajayi. His goal, a wonderful turning volley off the noggin of Yarmolenko, sealed the win and gets him a mini-goal streak at two in two matches. Superb yet again.

Substitutes

David Moyes elected to add more firepower to the situation with Pablo Fornals and Andriy Yarmolenko replacing Manuel Lanzini and Said Benrahma in a double change in the 62nd minute. It turned out to be the right move, as Yarmolenko assisted the winning goal just four minutes later, rewarding the stubborn manager who tends to wait too long on subs.

Mark Noble was also used in the 84th minute to offer some relief to Antonio’s hamstrings and tidied up nicely in a 4-3-3 formation change. Overall, the match was handled well, despite the awkward inability to counter and the three points are banked.